Concrete-wall machine.



|vi. DEEKS.

CONCRETE WALL MACHINE.

APPLICATION \FILED JULYH), 1915.

1,176,525. Patented Ma1=.21,1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET l- A TTOR/VEYS THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH pm, WASHINGTON, D. c

'IVIAURICE DEEKS, OIE ROCHELLE PARK, NEW JERSEY.

CONCRETE-WALL MACHINE.

7 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 21, 1916.

Application filed. July 10, 1915. Serial No. 39,087.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAURICE DEEKS, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and a. resident of Rochelle Park, in the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Concreteall Machine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to apparatus for building plastic or concrete walls. and has particular reference to devices of this nature adapted for continuous operation for forming a wall in courses one above another in a rapid and reliable manner.

Among the objects of the invention is to simplify and improve the construction and method of operation of machines of this nature adapted for forming a hollow wall or a wall having inner and outer portions with an air space between them.

i A further object of the invention is to improve the facilities for making the wall not only self-supporting but so adapted as to support the building machine while the work progresses.

A still further object is to improve the facilities for applying transverse braces or ties adapted to lock the two wall portions together, such braces or ties being positioned by the machine employed in the wall construction.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed herein, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which 7 Figure 1 is a plan view illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of thesame; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the machine indicating its normal operative position in full lines and its loose transporting position in dotted lines; and showing a portion of the wall and supporting rails in cross section; Fig. 4 is a plan view indicating a means for forming a corner of a wall: and Fig. 5 is a-per- 'spective iew of 'a corner core.

* Referring now more particularly to the dra'Wings,'I show in the main views amachine comprising inner and outer parallel plates 10 and 11 paired respectively with outer plates 10 and 11 of preferably the same length and disposed in vertical planes. The inner plates 10 and 11 are adapted to form the opposite inner surfaces of the wall portions 12 and 12 forming the air space 12* between them. Likewise the outer plates 10 and 11 are designed to form the outer surfaces of the wall portions.

In the practical operation of concrete wall machines of the class to which this improvement relates, the machine including the inner and outer plates is positioned along the line of operation upon or along a suitable base or foundation, the same being supported upon wheels or rollers 13 journaled in brackets 14 formed at the lower ends of substantially vertical bars 15 shown in this instance as secured against the outer faces of the outer plates and constituting braces or reinforcement means for such plates. Bars 16 are connected to the inner faces of the plates 10 and 11 and constitute reinforcements for the same. The several plates are maintained in parallelism by any suitable means and the plates of each pair are adapted to be fixed at definite distances apart and so maintained during the building of a certain wall construction. As shown herein, the upper ends of the bars 15 are formed with heads 17 and the upper ends of the bars 16 are formed with heads 18 forming nuts and bearings respectively for shafts 19 extending fully across the machine and provided. preferably with hand wheels 20 at both ends for convenience of manipulation thereof. Each of the shafts 19 is proided with right and left screw threads cooperating with the heads 17, but is smooth at its middle portion where it has free slidable movement with respect to the heads 18. At 21 I show distance rods extending between the heads pertaining to the pairs of plates. In other words, the distance rods 21 are connected to the heads throughears 22 whereby the plates of. each pair are fixed as to distance apart and are so locked as by set screws 23. This adjustment is made according to the design or size ofeach wall construction, and when once made, is not changed until such wall is completed. It will be understood that through the distance rod 91 the adjustment of either outer plate 10" or 11 will cause a like movement in the outer plate of the other pair to form one of V the wall portions either 12 or 12*, and likewise the other inner plate cooperates with the other outer plate to form the other wall portion.

Assuming that the machine is adjusted as shown in full lines in Fig. 3 and supported upon a suitable base or foundation represented by track members 24 of any suitable length, the spaces between the outer walls of the inner plates and the inner walls of the outer plates are filled and tamped with a soft material with any desired amount or nature of reinforcing devices. said material being of a consistency to solidify in a comparatively short time. The several plates are provided with registering holes 25 through which a plug or bar 26 is adapted to pass. Said plug is designed to be withdrawn longitudinally from the holes and from the green wall after the tamping is completed. leaving a t ansverse hole through the wall through which a transverse bar 27 is adapted to be passed subseouently for supporting the track members 24 for supporting the machine during the formation of the next u per course. After the machine has been filled with green material as set forth above. itis adapted to be moved leng hwise to a distance substantially equal to it length, such movement being made along the track mem e s 24 after loosening the plat s from the wall se ti n already formed. This loosening is effected by rotation of the shafts 19 b manipulation of the hand wheels 20 at e ther side of the machine, such rotation causing the heads 17 to be forced bodily apart. and through the connecti ns 21 above described the inner plates pertainin to the same pairs are caused to approach each other as indicated in do ted lines in Fig. 3. All of the plates. therefore, are free from the section of green wall. and the plug 26 ha ing been removed. the machine is rolled easilv along the track members 24 to form the next secti n. Rotation of the shafts 19 in the o posite di ection. therefore. restores the machine so that the plates are properly spa ed in acc rdance with the design of the wall or until the plates are caused to clamp a ainst the wall secti ns p e iously formed. The plug 26 i then slipped in place and the machine is lled and tamped as before described. lVith a minimum amount of care and attention. therefore. on the part of a skilled workman and with the assistance of i one or two laborers, a wall may be rapidly The After one course is completed, the bars 27' are introduced into the holes formed in the course last formed which, by the time one course is completed, will have become sulficiently solidified for the machine in the operation of the next course, and the track members 24 will then be supported upon the bars 27 in their new position. The machine is then applied to the new course and the work is continued from course to course until the wall is completed. 7

In the tightening of the plates in securing the machine to a previously formed course preliminary to fillingand tamping, the length of the heads 17 and 18 along the shafts 19, together with the stiffness of the bars 15, may be depended upon to maintain the parallelism of the plates, but as a precaution to prevent the possibility that a careless workman may clamp the previous wall too tightly and thereby tend to cause made symmetrical with respectto its several ends, and hence may be operated in either direction, but for convenience of understanding the description, the arrows onFigs.

1 and 2 may be understood as representing the direction of operation ofthe machine step-by-step. The ends of the inner plates V 10 and 11 are notched as indicated at 29, and 30 indicates a tie bar having upturned ends 31. This tie bar may bee-of any suitable nature and adapted to be placed in position in the notches 29 at the rear end of the machine. The upturned ends are designed to be located at any suitable part of the interior ofthe wall members, 'andwhen-the 7 material 'is poured and tamped. into position in the machine, the tie'bar 30 will be anchoredin place and constitute therefore a ri id bracing connection between the two portions of the wall. llVhen themaohine is moved forwardly to take a new position, the notches 29 allow the machine to move di rectly from the tie bar without interference with its connection with the wall just formed. One of these tie bars may be used For convenience themachine is preferably him at each setting of the machine orat any greater intervals, as may be found deslrabl or necessary.

Obviously several of these machines may.

erable to use two machines in connection with each other as shown in Fig. 4.

From the nature of the machine set forth herein, it is obvious that it may be adjusted so as to register with the innercorner of the wall construction irrespective of the distance of last adjustment of the machine. In other words, so far as the operation of the machine is concerned, the rear end thereof may overlap any desired amount of the last formed wall section. At the ends of the outer plates are formed lugs 32. Such lugs at the front end of the outer plate forming the inner surface of the wall are adapted to be secured directly to the corresponding lugs of the next machine. The lugs 32, however, at the front end of the outer plate forming the outer surface of the wall are connected to auxiliary plates 33 hinged together in lugs 32 to form the outer corner of the wall, the opposite end of the forward auxiliary plate being connected to the lugs 32 of the next machine. The air space between the wall members at the corner is formed by an angular or L-shaped solid core 34 shown best in Fig. 5 and comprising rabbeted vertical end edges 35 with which the inner plates of the machines cooperate when in position to form the wall bracing of desired thickness. Said core, however, may be elevated with comparative ease after the machine parts are loosened as already described. The cores 34 may be of any suitable comparatively cheap construction and may be provided in standard sizes for cooperation with the adjustable machine in accordance with the desired width of the air space between the wall sections. The holes formed temporarily in the wall by the plug 26 may be employed for supporting temporary scaffolding during the subsequent building operations and may be plugged up -finallv at any desired time, either by mortar or other material. In the ordinary practice of this invention, the wall surfaces are left in proper condition for direct application of plaster, stucco or thelike, without the necessity for employing any kind of lat-hing, and because of the air space 12*, the wall is always perfectly dry.

From the foregoing description and illustrations referred to therein, it will be obvious that starting with a level foundati n, the adjustable machine including the plu lity of s de plates mav be moved forwardly step-by-step along the line of operation, as upon the foundation and then subsequently upon the track members supported in the manner described, without necessitating the expenditure of particular care or time in the leveling preliminary to the introduction of a new charge of wall material within the machine. In other words, with a proper foundation to begin with, and with the exercise of ordinary reasonable care in the manipulation of the machine in the manner described, the machine maybe considered as automatically leveling. It will be noted also that the means employed for supporting the machine may be supported upon any course of the wall already built for the purpose of receiving new charges of wall material. In other words, if the uppermost course of the completedwall is found to be too soft or green on any occasion for supporting the machine in the formation of a. succeeding course, the bars 27 may be projected through the wall at any level below the last made course or upon that portion of the wall which is reliably set for the purpose. The only consideration in this connection is that the track members employed at any particular time be of a sufficient height for the purpose of supporting the portable machine at the proper elevation.

1. In a concrete wall machine, the combination of a plurality of parallel side plates, a plurality of rollers journaled to said plates for supporting them, track members for supporting the rollers, means to manipulate the plates toward and from each other to adjust them in operative position or to release the same from a wall section, said plates being formed with transverse alined holes, a plug held temporarily in said holes during the formation of a wall section for forming a transverse hole through the wall, and means operating through a wall hole previously thus formed for supporting said track members.

2. In a concrete wall machine, the combi-' nation of a plurality of parallel plates, means connecting the several plates transversely to maintain them in parallelism and at definite distances apart, said plates having alined holes formed transversely and horizontally therethrough, a plug extending through said holes around which the wall material is tamped and whereby a hole is formed transversely through the wall, track members adjustable lengthwise of the line of operation, means extending through the previously formed transverse holes in the wall supporting said track members, and means cooperating with said plates to support the same upon the track members, substantially as set forth.

3. In a concrete machine, the combination of inner and outer spaced parallel plates arranged in pairs, adjustable distance rods secured to the plates'ofthe several pairs locking them at definite distances apart,

transverse rotary shafts cooperating with all of the plates and having right and left threaded engagement with the outer plates and having free, slidable engagement With the inner plates, means to rotate the shafts plates, means to manipulate the plates toward and from each other, and means supporting the machine upon a previously constructed portion of the Wall permitting stepby-step movement thereof horizontally along the line of operation, certain of said plates being provided at their rear ends With Copies of this patent may be obtained for horizontal open-ended transversely alined notches for positioning transverse Wall stays, providing for the machine to Withdraw from such stays While moving forwardly in a horizontal direction.

5. In a concrete machine, the combination.

of a plurality of plates, means connecting the plates to maintain them at desired spaced distances laterally of each other, horizontal track members transportable longitudinally along the line of operation for supporting-the machinein a level position While the machine is transported along the track members, and means to temporarily support the track members upon a previously built portion of the wall.

MAURICE ,DEEKS.

Witnesses: 1

GEO. L. BEELER, PHILIP D. ,RoLLHAUs.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

